Corrections say there\u2019s no evidence Tekuru, who last week pleaded guilty to breaching his release conditions by going to a playground, had left the premises.<\/p>\n
However, a review is underway, with Corrections saying it appears staff should have made further attempts to contact him.<\/p>\n
Tekuru was sent to prison for the attempted abduction and released on March 10.<\/p>\n
But a week later, on March 17, he was back in custody accused of breaching his release conditions. He pleaded guilty on April 16 and was moved to an address organised by Corrections.<\/p>\n
In response to questions from RNZ, Corrections\u2019 acting director of communities, partners Simon Chaplin said Tekuru was subject to 12 release conditions, including being electronically monitored. He is currently living at a residence on Corrections prison land.<\/p>\n
Chaplin confirmed that about 6pm on Monday, Corrections\u2019 national electronic monitoring operations staff identified his tracker was going flat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey contacted staff at the residence to advise them of the battery alert and the need for Mr Tekuru to charge his tracker. Staff attempted to contact Mr Tekuru via the residence intercom but received no response.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 11.41pm, a no-communication alert indicated that he had still not charged his tracker and that it had gone flat. Corrections staff and a field officer then physically visited his residence. When he did not answer the door, Corrections contacted police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police found Tekuru asleep at the residence just after 4am on Tuesday, April 21, and he was arrested, Corrections said.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson told RNZ that they were called to assist Corrections at 3.30am on that day.<\/p>\n
Tekuru was arrested for breaching court release conditions and released from police custody a short time later.<\/p>\n
Chaplin said there was \u201cno information to indicate\u201d Tekuru left his premises during the time his battery was flat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, initial information suggests that staff should have made further attempts to contact Mr Tekuru between the time his battery was going flat and the no communication alert.<\/p>\n
\u201cA review into this timeline will be carried out, with further reminders provided to staff about the expectation that any potential non-compliance by this offender is to be immediately actioned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaplin said Tekuru was temporarily located at a residence on Corrections land.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrections is working to find suitable long-term housing for this offender. Any proposed address for people for offending such as this person undergoes an assessment to determine suitability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes looking at a range of factors including the location of victims, other occupants at the property including any children or people subject to community sentences, location of support services, cellular coverage and power if electronic monitoring is a condition of the person\u2019s order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police would consult with other agencies, including police, as part of the assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take our management of offenders in the community extremely seriously, and this person would not be allowed to reside at an address if it was not deemed suitable for them to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrections Chief Probation Officer Toni Stewart told Checkpoint on Wednesday it was \u201cfair to acknowledge\u201d that staff could have acted more quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have very quickly commissioned a review to understand what actions were taken and where we might have done things better and could have acted quicker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, we have taken some immediate steps to ensure this person\u2019s compliance with their special conditions, that includes over the last couple of days a multidisciplinary team meeting with Corrections and police to agree a really clear plan to take action if he continues to be non-compliant with his conditions, including charging his electronic monitoring device.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why staff didn\u2019t go to the residence as soon as they were notified the tracker was going flat, Stewart said that would form part of the review.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur immediate priority has been to establish, do we have information to suggest he left the premises during that period? And as I say, initial indications are that he absolutely didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart then said staff were still reviewing CCTV footage to get information on whether there were any movements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confident that during that window of time he was asleep at his residence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart said the staff did go into the residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis residence on Corrections land is staffed, and so they\u2019ve gone over, they have entered, they have called out to him and attempted to make contact. He hasn\u2019t responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey haven\u2019t at that point, all of the internal doors were closed, and they haven\u2019t at that point, made any attempts to enter any of the rooms. Whether or not they should have done that will form part of the review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if she accepted the response fell short of what should have been done, Stewart said \u201cI think it\u2019s very fair to say that staff could have acted quicker\u201d.<\/p>\n
This included closer monitoring of the battery levels of his electronic monitoring device as well as contact between probation staff and Tekuru to remind him to charge his device.<\/p>\n
Chaplin confirmed an application had not been made for an Extended Supervision Order (ESO) or Public Protection Order (PPO) in relation to Tekuru.<\/p>\n
To meet the criteria to be considered for an ESO application, an individual is required to be considered a high risk of further offending and must meet a number of specific criteria under the Parole Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrown Law makes an application on Corrections\u2019 instruction if an ESO is pursued. ESOs are imposed by the courts and can be imposed for up to 10 years at a time following their release from prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a decision for the court as to whether a person\u2019s offending and level of risk meet the legislative criteria and the risk of harm justifies the restriction of an ESO. In some cases the court may decide to impose intensive monitoring for up to 12 months, which is person to person monitoring at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n
A PPO is a court order that allows the detention of \u201cvery high-risk individuals\u201d at a secure facility within prison precincts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a very small number of people are likely to be subject to public protection orders, and this is a decision for the High Court.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his guilty plea last week, RNZ asked Corrections about Tekuru\u2019s new living arrangements.<\/p>\n
Chaplin said at the time public safety was their \u201ctop priority and we are closely monitoring this offender to ensure he complies with his conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny non-compliance with these conditions will be taken extremely seriously and acted on immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief victims adviser responds<\/p>\n
Chief victims adviser Ruth Money told RNZ that Corrections\u2019 response was \u201csimply not good enough\u201d and she was \u201chorrified about the lack of risk management going on here\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am terrified about what can happen for the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we not risk managing and putting prevention first? This person clearly can\u2019t control his urges. He is allegedly safe in corrections care, and I don\u2019t understand why we\u2019re not putting community risk first and investigating where he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money said as soon as Corrections were unable to get hold of Tekuru on the intercom someone should have visited the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that difficult. He\u2019s on Corrections facilities \u2026 this person is clearly a high risk and I just cannot believe the staff involved did not think that it was their job to make that phone call and check where this high-risk offender was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money said she did not understand why a PPO had not been applied for.<\/p>\n
\u201cA PPO is for someone who has got an intense urge, and we can see that this person can\u2019t control his compulsions. You can see that there is evidence on the file. I am horrified about the risk to community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier breach<\/p>\n
During the court hearing last week, Judge Jonathan Moses said Tekuru was subject to electronic monitoring and had a special condition he not loiter or enter a place where people under 16 are unless approved.<\/p>\n
These included the likes of schools, early childhood centres, parks, libraries and churches.<\/p>\n
Judge Moses said two days after his release, electronic monitoring information placed Tekuru in a playground.<\/p>\n
He was questioned about this and issued with a written warning.<\/p>\n
Judge Moses said other electronic monitoring information on March 14, confirmed Tekuru had gone into the grounds of a school, which had an early childcare centre sharing an access way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had therefore breached your conditions of release in that you were in the vicinity of a school or early childcare centre,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou admitted walking past those facilities but said you were only walking within your local area,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
A summary of facts released to RNZ shows Tekuru was at the playground at Alfriston Park in Manurewa in Auckland between 4.29am and 4.45am.<\/p>\n
After that on March 14, he was at Alfriston College between 9.28am and 9.32am, and he then went to the Go Bananas childcare centre between 9.36am and 9.40am.<\/p>\n
When questioned about that, the summary says Tekuru admitted to walking past early childcare facilities but said he was only walking within his local area.<\/p>\n
Judge Moses said he took Tekuru\u2019s age, 20, and his one prior conviction into consideration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m going to do today is to convict you and sentence you to imprisonment for a period of one month taking your guilty plea and those other features into account,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tekuru had already been in custody since March 17.<\/p>\n
No extra conditions were imposed because Tekuru was still subject to his earlier ones and he will be moved to an address organised by Corrections.<\/p>\n
\u2018Bound to offend again\u2019<\/p>\n
Tekuru\u2019s case earlier sparked concern from the Sensible Sentencing Trust, which has called for him to face stricter monitoring.<\/p>\n
He was released from jail under a provision that an offender be let out early if their sentence is two years or less.<\/p>\n
The Trust said he served 12 months.<\/p>\n
It has written to the Department of Corrections, it says in a rare action, urging it to consider an ESO, or PPO. <\/p>\n
It earlier told RNZ that Tekuru was \u201cbound to offend again\u201d. <\/p>\n
The department earlier said Tekuru was subject to multiple special conditions when he was released in March, including:<\/p>\n
Electronic monitoring (GPS)Residence at an approved addressNo contact with children under 16 unless supervised by an \u201cApproved Informed Adult\u201d and authorised in writingNo entering areas where children are likely to be present (eg, playgrounds, schools) without written approvalNo contact with the victimMandatory psychological assessment and treatmentMandatory alcohol and drug treatmentNo use of alcohol or non-prescribed drugsProhibition on entering Rotorua without written approval<\/p>\n
-RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corrections say there\u2019s no evidence Tekuru, who last week pleaded guilty to breaching his release conditions by going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5921,74,2511,9639,2082,5275,11551,5126,111,43,139,69,17699,7680,15768,184790,3198,203109,67621],"class_list":["post-393086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-electronic","tag-after","tag-child","tag-flat","tag-for","tag-goes","tag-hours","tag-john","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offender","tag-sex","tag-sherwood","tag-tekuru","tag-tracker","tag-unmonitored","tag-wouldbe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}